Princess Martinez
HEAT’S ON: Bravest face a wall of fire in The Bronx after a teen allegedly set the blaze, leaving dozens homeless. (NY Post: G.N. Miller)
A troubled Bronx teen was charged with arson yesterday after getting into a fight with her mom — and setting a fire that sent six Bravest to the hospital and left nearly 30 people homeless, officials said.
Princess Martinez, 19, allegedly set ablaze a mattress after a loud argument with her mother in their fifth-floor apartment at 2254 Cedar Ave. in University Heights around 9 a.m. Saturday, cops said.
The teen then bolted the apartment, leaving her mother behind to fend for herself, sources said. The mom escaped unharmed.
Martinez later copped to setting the blaze, law-enforcement sources said.
The apartment fire flared into a sprawling three-alarm blaze that spread across several apartments on the building’s fifth and sixth floors.
Startled residents — including Metropolitan Opera singer Andrey Namzer — were forced to flee the smoldering building as screams spread.
“It’s unbelievable,” said one resident who returned to his third-floor apartment last night.
“You should have seen this place. People could have died, a lot of them,’’ said the man, who declined to give his name. “I’m actually surprised that no one did because there were a lot of people inside at the time.”
Resident Julio Guzman said terrified residents poured into the streets in their pajamas. “A lot of people were panicking,” he said. “You could see the flames everywhere.”
Guzman said Martinez lived in a troubled household with her mother and sister. “I was surprised,” he said of the teen’s arrest. “She’s a quiet kid.”
“I’m disabled, and whenever she would see me carrying shopping or things like that, she would help me. I think there were a lot of problems in that house. I guess she couldn’t take it.”
It took firefighters more than 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control.
Six Bravest were sent to local hospitals for a range of minor injuries including smoke inhalation and burns. The fire gutted several apartments.
Martinez was charged with arson last night and held in lieu of $100,000 bail.